If Harris hadn't rushed into the burning house twice and rescued the two children, they probably would have died, says volunteer fire investigator Charles Smith.

In March, Harris charged into a smoke-and-heat-filled room of the house to take Alisha outside, then climbed into a window to grab Gregory from a crib and rush him to safety.

He was one of two Hampton citizens recently recognized for valor by Hampton City Council for their actions in saving the lives of three people trapped by fire.

In April, hero Jeffrey Quigley crawled into a burning house to rescue an elderly man who was coughing and confused by heavy smoke.

"Knowing another child was inside and there was no chance to return through the front room, he went around the house until he found a window that showed a baby's crib in a bedroom," says Smith of Harris' heroism. "He climbed in and located a baby in the crib. He then climbed back out of the same window, which was well off the ground.

"The baby appeared lifeless so Harris blew into the baby's mouth and smacked him on the butt and the baby started crying."

Harris' arms were bleeding, and it took several stitches to close the wound in one arm.

"Had he not responded as quickly and without regard for his own safety in removing both children from the intense smoke and heat, there could have been serious injuries or possibly two fatalities," Smith says.

Harris is a private citizen with a family that depends on him, Smith adds.

"He jeopardized his own safety to rescue those two childrren and I felt very strongly that he should be recognized."

DeVose says the fire started in a trash can in the utility area.

"I was in the front yard and some neighborhood kids playing in the back yard came yelling that the house was on fire," she says. "I was frightened. I saw the smoke but couldn't see anything. I just heard my daughter crying. Harris, who lives across the street, appeared out of nowhere. He heard my daughter crying and he asked me where she was."

In the other rescue, Quigley, an attendant at a nearby gasoline station, rushed to a house on fire in Phoebus and was told by some men that the smoke was too thick for someone to enter to rescue 82-year-old Amos Gates out.

It took several attempts to get into the smoke-filled house, but ignoring his own safety, Quigley made his way on his hands and knees down the hall to Gates. When he sawGates' legs through the thick smoke, he pulled him to the floor.

"I could not stand up, and I was running out of air when at the last moment I believe I crawled right into the man, who was hanging on to what I thought was his bedroom doorway, still standing up," Quigley says. "At that point, I grabbed him by his ankles and pulled his feet out from under him. When he hit the floor, I just crawled over him so I could grab him by the shoulders and drag him out quickly without hurting him."

When Quigley was near the front door, his father-in-law helped him carry Gates to the grass a safe distance away.

After checking with a paramedic to make sure Gates was not injured, "I gave the old man a smile and then went home for the day," Quigley says.